Vehicle safety assembly

ABSTRACT

A vehicle safety assembly including an inflatable bag which is attached to a cup-shaped member defining an annular chamber. A diffuser is disposed within the bag and a gas generator is in communication with the annular chamber in the cup-shaped member. The cup-shaped member has a hole centrally thereof for receiving the steering shaft and a pair of brackets interconnect the diffuser and the spokes of the steering wheel whereby the assembly may be associated with conventional steering assemblies.

I United States Patent 1151 3,674,284 Lohr 1 July 4, 1972 54 VEHICLESAFETY ASSEMBLY 3,532,360 10/1970 Leising et a1 ..280/150 3,506,2814/1970 Berryman ..280/150 [72] menu)" 9" Warm 3,552,769 1/1971 Kemmereret al. ..280/150 [73] Assignee: Allied Chemical Corporation, New York,

N.Y. Primary Examiner-Kenneth l-l. Betts Oct 2 Attorney-Jonathan Plaut 11 pp 82,563 57 ABSTRACT A vehicle safety assembly including aninflatable bag which is U-S. 1 1 attached to a cup..shaped memberdefining an annular [51] '3- Cl "B607 21/08 chamber. A diffuser isdisposed within the bag and a gas [58] Field Of Search ..280/150, 87generator is in communication with the annular chamber in the cup-shapedmember. The cup-shaped member has a hole [56] References cued centrallythereof for receiving the steering shaft and a pair of UNYTED STATESPATENTS brackets interconnect the diffuser and the spokes of the steer-1ng wheel whereby the assembly may be associated w1th conl Chuteventiona] teering assemblies 3,580,603 5/1971 Chute... .....280/1503,600,003 8/1971 Carey ..280/150 5 Claims, 2 Drawing FiguresP'ATENTEDJUL 41972 3,674,284

IN VENTOR.

2 g/z' omas Efor- AT TO R NEYS VEHICLE SAFETY ASSEMBLY This inventionrelates to a vehicle safety assembly and more specifically to a vehiclesafety assembly including an inflatable means for protecting or limitingthe movement of an occupant of a vehicle during crash or collisionconditions.

A great deal of effort has been expended to develop vehicle safetyassemblies utilizing inflatable bags or confinements which areautomatically inflated in response to a predetermined condition of thevehicle to prevent an occupant of the vehicle from contacting thevarious components of the vehicle. In other words, the bag is inflatedduring a crash to prevent the occupant of a vehicle from incurringserious injuries as a result of impact with the interior of the vehiclebody.

Particular problems have been presented in designing such vehicle safetyassemblies which are compatible with the steering column and steeringwheel assemblies in automobiles. The steering wheel and steering columnare obstacles to the inflation of bags. To prevent the steering wheeland steering column from being such obstacles, various systems have beendeveloped whereby the inflatable bag is placed within the periphery ofthe steering wheel. The problem with such systems is that the steeringcolumn must be of a special design to accommodate the components of theinflatable bag assemblies. Additionally, prior art assemblies occupy aninordinate amount of space within the periphery of the steering wheel.

A vehicle safety assembly has been developed to overcome these problemsand is disclosed and claimed in copending application Ser. No. 82,562filed on Oct. 21, 1971 concurrently here-with in the name of Robert L.Stephenson and assigned to the Assignee of the instant invention. Theinstant invention represents a further improvement.

It is therefore an object and feature of this invention to provide animproved safety assembly which includes an inflatable means andinflation means for inflating the inflatable means and attachment meansfor attaching such means to a conven tional steering shaft and aconventional steering wheel.

In correlation with the foregoing object and feature, it is anotherobject and feature of this invention to provide such a vehicle safetyassembly wherein the inflation means includes a cup-shaped member havinga central cylindrical wall to define an annular chamber and a hole inthe bottom of the cupshaped member for receiving a steering shafttherethrough and whereby the entire assembly may be disposed within theperiphery of a conventional steering wheel.

Other objects and attendant advantages of the present invention will bereadily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by referenceto the following detailed description when considered in connection withthe accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary cross sectional view of a preferred embodimentof the instant invention; and

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary view taken substantially along line 2-2 of FIG.1.

Referring now to the drawings, a vehicle safety assembly constructed inaccordance with the instant invention is generally shown at 10. Thevehicle safety assembly includes an inflatable means comprising a bag 12which has a collapsed position as illustrated in FIG. 1 and an extendedor inflated position (not shown) for limiting the movement of anoccupant of a vehicle.

The assembly also includes inflation means generally shown at 14 forinflating the bag 12.

Also included are the attachment means defined by the brackets 16 andthe hole 18 for attaching the assembly to a steering shaft 20 and asteering wheel 22.

The steering shaft 20 is of the conventional variety and is splined forcoaction with the hub 24 of the steering wheel 22. A tubular housing 26surrounds the steering shaft 20. The end of the steering shaft 20 isthreaded and a nut 28 is disposed thereon.

The steering wheel 22 is conventional and has an outer circular hoop orperiphery which is joined to the hub 24 by spokes 30.

The inflation means 14 includes a cup-shaped member 32. The cup-shapedmember 32 has a centrally disposed cylindrical wall 34 so as to definean annular chamber 36. The hole 18 is disposed in the bottom of thecup-shaped member 32 and the steering shaft 20 extends therethrough sothat the nut 28 holds the cup-shaped member to the steering wheel 22 andto the steering shaft 20.

The inflation means also includes a source of pressurized fluidcomprising the gas generator 38. The gas generator 38 is connected tothe cup-shaped member 32 by threads so as to be in fluid communicationwith the annular chamber 36. The gas generator 38 contains a pyrotechnicwhich upon ignition generates gas pressures. An appropriate sensor isutilized to sense a crash or collision condition of the vehicle so as tosend a signal to the gas generator 38 to ignite the pyrotechnic. Varioussuch sensing devices are known in the prior art.

The cup-shaped member 32 includes a passage means defined by thethreaded collet or sleeve 40 for establishing fluid communicationbetween the annular chamber 36 and the interior of the bag 12. Thesleeve 40 includes a rupturable disk 42 which has an annular weakenedportion defined by a groove so that the disk is sheared from the sleeve40 in response to a rise in pressure in the chamber 36.

The bag 12 is in sealing engagement with the cup-shaped member 32 aboutthe sleeve 40. More specifically, the inflation means includes adiffuser 44 disposed within the bag and about the sleeve 40. Thediffuser 44 is elongated and has a bottom having the cross section of apie pan when viewed in longitudinal cross section. In other words, thediffuser has a flat bottom with the end walls thereof extending upwardlyand outwardly at an angle and has a top disposed on such walls. Thesidewalls are generally perpendicular to the bottom. The diffuser has aplurality of holes 46 in the walls thereof so that as the gas pressuremoves from the chamber 36 into the dil fuser, it is diffused beforeentering the bag 12.

A pair of bolts 48 extend through the inclined end walls of thediffuser. Each bolt has an elongated head which is welded to and insealing engagement with an inclined wall of the diffuser 44. Each pairof bolts 48 extends through one of the brackets 16. The brackets 16 aresecured by the bolts 50 to the spokes 30 of the steering wheel 22.

It will be appreciated from the foregoing description that the instantinvention involves a vehicle safety assembly which is compact and may beattached to a conventional steering column and steering wheel withoutthe requirement of providing a steering column or steering wheel with aspecial design.

The invention has been described in an illustrative manner, and it is tobe understood that the terminology which has been used is intended to bein the nature of words of description rather than of limitation.

Obviously, many modifications and variations of the present inventionare possible in light of the above teachings. It is, therefore, to beunderstood that within the scope of the appended claims, the inventionmay be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

I claim:

l. A vehicle safety assembly comprising: inflatable means having acollapsed position and an extended position for limiting the movement ofan occupant, a gas generator for inflating said inflatable means,attachment means for attaching said inflatable means and said gasgenerator to a steering shaft and to a steering wheel, passage means insaid gas generator between said generator and said inflatable means,said inflatable means being in sealing engagement with said generatorabout said passage means, diffuser means disposed within said inflatablemeans and about said passage means for dispensing generated gases to theinflatable means, said diffuser means being elongated and having wallswith a plurality of holes therein, a bracket secured to each end of saiddiffuser means for attachment to spokes of a steering wheel.

2. A vehicle safety assembly comprising: inflatable means having acollapsed position and an extended position for limiting the movement ofan occupant, inflation means for inflating said inflatable means,attachment means for attaching said inflatable means and said inflationmeans to a steering shaft and to a steering wheel, said inflation meansincludes a cup-shaped member having a cylindrical wall to define anannular chamber, said attachment means including a hole in the bottom ofsaid member and within said cylindrical wall for receiving a steeringshaft therethrough, said for dispensing means includes a source ofpressurized fluid connected to said cupshaped member and in fluidcommunication with said annular chamber, said inflatable means comprisesa bag, said cupshaped member has a passage means therein for fluidcommunication between said annular chamber and said bag, said bag beingin sealing engagement with said cupshaped member about said passagemeans, said inflation means includes a diffuser means disposed withinsaid bag and about said passage means, said diffuser means is elongatedand has walls with a plurality of holes therein, said attachment meansincludes a bracket secured to each end of said diffuser means forattachment to spokes of a steering wheel.

3. An assembly as set forth in claim 2 wherein said source ofpressurized fluid comprises a gas generator.

4. An assembly as set forth in claim 3 wherein said passage meansincludes a rupturable disc.

5. A vehicle safety assembly comprising: inflatable means having acollapsed position and an extended position for limiting the movement ofan occupant, a gas generator for inflating said inflatable means,attachment means for attaching said inflatable means and said gasgenerator to a steering shaft and to a steering wheel, passage means insaid gas generator between said generator and said inflatable means,said inflatable means being in sealing engagement with said generatorabout said passage means, said inflation means including a diffuserdisposed within said inflatable means for dispersing generated gases tothe inflatable means, said diffuser being elongated and secured at eachend thereof to said steering wheel.

mmso UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 5 CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No.3 I 674 I 284 Dated July 1972 lnventufls) Thomas E. Lohr I It iscertified that error appears in the above-identified patent and thatsaid Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

IN THE SPECIFICATION IN THE CLAIMS Claim 2, column 3, line 7, "fordispensinq" should be inflation Claim 5, column 4, line 10, "dispersing"should be dispensing Signed and sealed this 7th day of November 1972.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.FLETCHER,JR. ROBERT GOTTSCHALK Attesting Officer Commissionerof Patents

1. A vehicle safety assembly comprising: inflatable means having acollapsed position and an extended position for limiting the movement ofan occupant, a gas generator for inflating said inflatable means,attachment means for attaching said inflatable means and said gasgenerator to a steering shaft and to a steering wheel, passage means insaid gas generator between said generator and said inflatable means,said inflatable means being in sealing engagement with said generatorabout said passage means, diffuser means disposed within said inflatablemeans and about said passage means for dispensing generated gases to theinflatable means, said diffuser means being elongated and having wallswith a plurality of holes therein, a bracket secured to each end of saiddiffuser means for attachment to spokes of a steering wheel.
 2. Avehicle safety assembly comprising: inflatable means having a collapsedposition and an extended position for limiting the movement of anoccupant, inflation means for inflating said inflatable means,attachment means for attaching said inflatable means and said inflationmeans to a steering shaft and to a steering wheel, said inflation meansincludes a cup-shaped member having a cylindrical wall to define anannular chamber, said attachment means including a hole in the bottom ofsaid member and within said cylindrical wall for receiving a steeringshaft therethrough, said for dispensing means includes a source ofpressurized fluid connected to said cup-shaped member and in fluidcommunication with said annular chamber, said inflatable means comprisesa bag, said cup-shaped member has a passage means therein for fluidcommunication between said annular chamber and said bag, said bag beingin sealing engagement with said cup-shaped member about said passagemeans, said inflation means includes a diffuser means disposed withinsaid bag and about said passage means, said diffuser means is elongatedand has walls with a plurality of holes therein, said attachment meansincludes a bracket secured to each end of said diffuser means forattachment to spokes of a steering wheel.
 3. An assembly as set forth inclaim 2 wherein said source of pressurized fluid comprises a gasgenerator.
 4. An assembly as set forth in claim 3 wherein said passagemeans includes a rupturable disc.
 5. A vehicle safety assemblycomprising: inflatable means having a collapsed position and an extendedposition for limiting the movement of an occupant, a gas generator forinflating said inflatable means, attachment means for attaching saidinflatable means and said gas generator to a steering shaft and to asteering wheel, passage means in said gas generator between saidgenerator and said inflatable means, said inflatable means being insealing engagement with said generator about said passage means, saidinflation means including a diffuser disposed within said inflatablemeans for dispersing generated gases to the inflatable means, saiddiffuser being elongated and secured at each end thereof to saidsteering wheel.